What do they do?

Family and academic matters often cause commotion in a child’s life. Therefore, counsellors often need to counsel parents. They have to work with paediatricians too at times to see if physical ailments are the cause of the mental problems. Child counselling is an upcoming field and one of the biggest areas that can facilitate and compliment routine education. Counsellors should have empathy and the ability to balance the parents’ viewpoint with the child’s viewpoint. Far-sighted vision and sensitivity are also important attributes.

As a Child Psychologist your job will be to diagnose and treat learning or developmental disabilities in a child. You will have to manage a child’s behavioural issues. You may also have to administer psychological tests on a child in order to determine the problem. You will also be working with a health care teal to create a unique treatment plan for a client. You may also have to counsell parents in certain cases.  

Skills Needed

• You should be a good listener 
• You should posses interpersonal skills and empathy
• Open-mindedness and objectivity to deal with the child neutrally
• Sensitive and non-intrusive

How do I get there?

You can opt for any subject in Class 12 to be eligible for a bachelor’s in psychology, but it’s preferable to take science with psychology. Then you can go for master’s in psychology. For better career prospects, you may do MPhil/PhD. Although training programmes in India do not include in-depth self-analysis, it is important that one should undergo counselling and psychotherapy. This enables a person to sort out his/her own personal issues.

Typical day in the life of a Child Psychologist

Pros & Cons about this career